Although we live in an era when vast sums of money are lavished on wedding festivities, we are not the first; in Renaissance Italy, middle- and upper-class families spent enormous amounts on marriages that were intended to establish or consolidate the status and lineage of one or both families. Here art professor Jacqueline Marie Musacchio explores the social and economic background to marriage in Renaissance Florence. She discusses the objects associated with marriage and family life—paintings, sculptures, furniture, jewelry, clothing, and household items, seen in 80 black and white and 120 color illustrations—and shows how families interacted with art on a daily basis. This began at marriage, when the bride brought a dowry and the groom provided the home and its furnishings. It continued with the accumulation of objects during the marriage and the birth of children. And it ended with the redistribution of these same objects at death.

"A significant contribution to the literature on art for the Renaissance domestic sphere.... The text is rich with information and expressively written, conveying the author's extensive knowledge and enthusiasm."—Speculum, A Journal of Medieval Studies